The History ofPhone Phreaking

How to Read an FBI File

September 4, 2008

Maybe you found an FBI file on the web, maybe you got it through a
web site like
Get Grandpa's FBI File
or
Get My FBI File, maybe you
found it at the National Archives, or maybe it was up in the attic in
great-aunt Mildred's possessions. If you're like most people, after you
read it you probably had a bunch of questions. FBI files are filled with
jargon, abbreviations, file numbers, codes, blacked out chunks of text,
and odd little codes in the margin. Very puzzling!

If you're serious about trying to understand the stuff in that file,
this document is for you. Its goal is to help you understand the contents
of your FBI file. (For convenience, let's say "your file" even though
the file may be about someone else.)

This document is divided into two parts. The first covers the actual
content of an FBI file -- what's in it, how to make sense of FBI
abbreviations, etc.
The second deals with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which is
likely how the file you're looking at was obtained.
That section will help you understand why some bits of text were blanked
out, what the odd little codes in the margin mean, and give you some hints
on where you can get more information.

Part I: The Contents of an FBI File

Let's talk geography for a second. (Trust me on this.)

The FBI's Headquarters (HQ, also called "The Bureau" in FBI files) is in
Washington D.C. (HQ is also sometimes referred to as the Seat of
Government or "SOG.") The FBI also has 56 Field Offices in major cities
across the United States. Smaller offices called Resident Agencies
(RAs) exist in smaller cities. Legal Attaches ("LEGATs") exist in
some foreign countries.

Most of what you will see in an FBI file is messages going back and
forth between Field Offices and HQ. It may help to think of an FBI file
as a collection of what today would be e-mail messages. Just as
e-mail messages today can range from trivial to vitally important,
so too can the messages in FBI files.

Some of these messages will have been sent by teletype, others
by airmail, and still others by normal surface mail. Some of the
communications will be mundane or administrative while
others will be more interesting.
Documents in FBI files can be as serious as a "prosecutive summary" or
non-prosecutive summary or something like 50+ page investigative report
by a Field Office or by Headquarters which is then forwarded to military
intelligence, the White House, the Attorney General or other government
agencies -- and much of that data will be classified Confidential,
Secret, or Top Secret.
Other documents contained in FBI files include court
documents, transcripts of testimony taken under oath at Congressional
hearings, credit bureau reports, incorporation documents, military
service records from the National Personnel Records Center, electronic
surveillance transcripts, reports to and from the U.S. Secret Service,
from Army, Navy or Air Force Intelligence, and security components of
various agencies.

Note that most messages sent to HQ are addressed to the "Director."
The Director of the FBI did not personally read every one
of these messages. Rather, messages sent to HQ are processed by FBI
agents assigned to the office of the Director. Similarly, messages from
the Director were generally written by one of his staff members.
(That said, one FBI file researcher commented that,
"Anything of national significance or which might be of potential
embarrassment to the Bureau or the Administration in power was routinely
circulated among top Bureau officials -- including Hoover. Everything
which alleged an FBI connection to some matter which might bring the FBI
into disrepute or potentially involve the Bureau in some sort of political
controversy was immediately sent up the food chain and seen by Hoover.
It really is quite amazing how much seemingly mundane stuff Hoover
initialed and often hand-wrote comments or instructions on -- including
whether or not an inquiry from a correspondent should be answered and
whether or not FBI publications should be sent to requesters.")

The FBI Filing System

You're going to see a lot of file numbers in FBI files, so we need
to talk a little bit about how the FBI filing system works.

One of the most astonishing things about the FBI filing system is
that FBI HQ and FBI Field Offices keep separate files with separate
file numbers. This means that there might be a file number 87-1234
at Headquarters and it is likely completely unrelated to file
87-1234 in the San Francisco Field Office -- which in turn is probably
completely unrelated to file 87-1234 in the New York Field Office!
This might seem crazy today, but back before computers and the Internet
when the FBI was started this was probably a pretty reasonable approach.

Because of this, a complete FBI file designator is made up of three
parts:

The FBI classification number in the FBI's Central Records System
that the investigation or file was opened under.
This is a two- or three-digit number which specifies broadly the type
of offense was being investigated. For example, 87 is fraud, 139 is
interception of communications.
A complete list of FBI offense codes
is provided on the
Thunder and Lightning News Service
web site.
This code is also sometimes called an "offense code." We'll use that
terminology in this document to avoid confusion with security classifications
(e.g., secret, top secret, etc.), which are also called "classifications."

A code indicating where the file originated, either
FBI Headquarters or a Field Office. These tend to be two-letter codes
but are sometimes three letters. For example, Headquarters is HQ,
Los Angeles is LA, San Francisco is SF, etc.
A
complete list of these abbreviations
is given on a separate page.

The file number, which is typically a 3-6 digit number
that is unique (for that offense code) to Headquarters or the Field Office.

So for example, file number 139-HQ-4992 is a file from FBI headquarters
dealing with interception of communications (e.g., wiretapping) and is
file number 4992 in that offense code at Headquarters.
File 87-NY-6837 is fraud case number 6837 in the New York field office.
Note that 87 is the offense code, not the year of the file.

HQ files are sometimes called "Bureau" files so you might see
reference to "Bufile 139-4992." This is the same as 139-HQ-4992.
Similarly, Field Office files are often written as something like
"SF 87-1234" instead of "87-SF-1234."

A few pages marked up to
indicate file numbers.
(Click for 3-page pdf.)

You may sometimes see an offense code followed by the word "new."
For example, "100-new." This indicates that the office has
opened a new investigation in the 100 series (subversive matters)
but that a file number wasn't yet assigned as of the time of
writing.

A hypothetical Headquarters file 139-HQ-4992 might have several
corresponding Field Office files, depending on where the investigation
took place. If this was a wiretapping case in New York, there might be
a New York file 139-NY-399 that is the Field Office file on the matter.
However, sometimes the offense code in the Field Office may not match
that at headquarters. As a result you sometimes wind up with funny
situations like a HQ file number 139-HQ-4992 corresponding to Kansas
City file 87-KC-1240.

As you go through your file you will see references to other
file numbers. If you have a HQ file, these other files will frequently
be Field Office files; if you have a Field Office file, you will see
reference to the Headquarters file. If you are interested in learning
more about the subject of your file, you will likely want to
file a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain these corresponding
files if you don't have them already.

A key point: Field Office files often contain significantly more
information than HQ files.
Consequently, the field office file should not be considered as a useless
"duplicate" of HQ files. While it is true that much of the material in
a Field Office file may be in a HQ file, it may have a lot that isn't
there, too.

The upper left corner of reports and the lower left corner
of cover pages are good places to look for file numbers. Also, most
letters, telegrams, and teletype messages will have file numbers after
the "From" and "To" lines. (If you click on the tiny page to the
right you'll be rewarded with three pages of an FBI file that has
been annotated to identify all the file numbers mentioned in it.)

It is important to keep in mind that these other file numbers
do not necessarily pertain to the same subject.
For example,
a HQ file on Joseph Smith (100-123456) might indicate the following
additional files: Los Angeles 100-2347, New York 157-2345 and Chicago
65-65192. These other files may not be specifically on Joseph Smith.
Instead, they may be files which contain data about organizations or
publications or some other matters deemed important for cross-referencing
purposes. Perhaps the Los Angeles file pertains to an
organization which Joseph Smith was involved with for some period of time,
the New York file might be a file on Communist Party infiltration of
that organization, and the Chicago file might be on Congressional testimony
by an informant who mentioned his/her connection to Joseph Smith.)

Because file numbers mentioned in an FBI file don't always have the
two-letter code showing which office the file is from, it can sometimes
be tough to tell whether a file number is a HQ or Field Office file.
In these cases some thought may be required to puzzle this out.

TIP: Make a list all the file numbers mentioned as
you read through your file.

By the way, the offense code gives insight into the FBI's thought
process during the investigation. The Field Office might have thought
your file was a low-level administrative inquiry (file class 62) but the
FBI Headquarters file might be something more ominous, like espionage
(file class 65).

Serials

TIP: Check your serials.
If you don't have all of them, try to match
the missing serials up with pages listed on the deleted page sheet that
followed the cover letter from the FBI.

Each document in an FBI file is called a "serial."
A serial could be something as simple as a one-page
teletype message or something more complex, like a 45-page report
with a 3-page cover memo.
Most serials are given a serial number, although
a few are "unrecorded" (i.e., not given a serial number).
Serial numbers typically start at 1 in each file and increase sequentially from
there,
though occasionally serial numbers may start with "X" and then
proceed to "X-2" and then "X-3" and so on, eventually
followed by serial #1.
Serial numbers are frequently handwritten in the lower
right-hand corner of the front of the
document in large letters. They consist of the file number (without the HQ
or Field Office identifier) followed by a dash and the serial number.
For example, if the file number is 139-4991, serial number 3 of that
file will be written as 139-4991-3.

Alas, sometimes serial numbers are illegible, or are redacted.

Serials in a file are not always in chronological order.
That is, serial #1 isn't always the earliest document in the file.
If this is the case for your file it may help to rearrange serials
chronologically.
(Also, sometimes public source materials (e.g., newspaper and magazine
articles or copies of flyers or newsletters) may be put at the
front of the file and given a serial number such as "1A" or "1B";
you can think of these as "sub files" of the main file.)

TIP: Account for missing pages.
If you don't you can get way confused.
See left for details.

It is sometimes difficult to tell if you have all the pages in a
given serial, especially since the FBI FOIA team may have withheld
some pages in their entirety. One trick is that usually the FBI
is pretty good about putting an asterisk after the last page
number of a document.
So if you look at the bottom of the page and see "3*" in the center
it tells you that this is page 3 of a 3 page document.

Captions

Most documents in an FBI file are titled or "captioned" with
information on the file subject. A caption generally consists of three
lines: the name of the subject, the character or nature of the case being
investigated (often a cryptic abbreviation), and the office of origin ("OO").
So a caption might look like:

Joe Blow, a.k.a.
ITWI; ITSP
OO: San Francisco

This tells you that the case concerns somebody named Joe Blow who
is also known by other names ("a.k.a."; sometimes the abbreviation
"was" for "with aliases" is also used) and that Mr. Blow is being
investigated for interstate transportation of wagering information (ITWI)
and interstate transportation of stolen property (ITSP).
The office of origin (OO) is San Francisco.
Sometimes there can be more than one office of origin, e.g.,
if a suspect moves.
A secret decoder
ring
for some of these abbreviations
is available at
abbreviations.com.

Forms

One thing you will quickly notice is that the FBI was, and
is, crazy about forms.
Are you interviewing an informant? Fill out an FD-209.
Visiting a foreign country? Fill out an FD-473.
The good people at
The MemoryHole
have obtained a comprehensive
list of FBI forms under FOIA, but
some of the most common you're likely to run into are:

FD-204: Investigative report

FD-263: Cover page accompanying investigative report

FD-302: Form for reporting information that may become testimony

Another document you may run into is a "letterhead memorandum",
abbreviated LHM. This is an official FBI memorandum that was expected
to be shown to someone outside the FBI.

Abbreviations and Jargon

FBI files are rife with abbreviations and FBI jargon.
A pretty good
list of FBI abbreviations
is available at
abbreviations.com.
A shorter list of some of the more common abbreviations is
at the end of this document.

One abbreviation which you may find puzzling when you first encounter
it is "RUC." Literally this stands for "referred upon completion"
but that doesn't quite explain what it means.
It typically is used when HQ or a Field Office
requests another Field Office to investigate something: when the Field
Office is finished it will respond with something like "We are placing
this matter in RUC status" which is FBI-speak for "Okay, here's the stuff
you asked for. We're done with this unless you tell us differently."

Symbol Sources

Depending on the nature of your file, you may run into the phrases
"symbol source" or "non-symbol source." The FBI sometimes uses informants
or technical sources of information (such as microphones or wiretaps)
when conducting an investigation. To protect the identity of these
sources in some cases the FBI will replace the sources names with an
abbreviation called a symbol, e.g., T-1, T-2, etc.
Big surprise: these are called symbol sources.
Sources not so protected are called non-symbol sources.

"June Mail"

If you're lucky :-) you may run into mention of "June Mail" in your file.
According to
Unlocking the Files of the FBI,
"June Mail was information received from or relating to the FBI's
'most sensitive sources,' including governors, secretaries to
high officials, extremely confidential information, and
'highly confidential or unusual investigative techniques'"
(e.g.,
black bag jobs).

Mail Covers

A mail cover is a investigatory technique in which the names and
addresses of a subject's mail correspondence are recorded.
Mail covers don't actually open someone's mail but they do make a
record of all the subject's incoming and outgoing mail.

Correlation Summaries

On files of major significance, the Bureau often prepared a "correlation
summary" which essentially is a chronological history of data contained
in the file. This is extremely important because often the correlation
summary identifies cross-references and related files that contain
information about the subject which is not always released when the main file
was processed.

Part II: FBI Files and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

This section deals with things you'll see in your file that are not
part of the FBI file itself but are rather artifacts of your file having
been processed by the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Why Does My File Look Like Swiss Cheese Sprinkled
with Gibberish?

Swiss cheese sprinkled with gibberish.
(Click for larger image.)

If your FBI file was obtained under FOIA the FBI almost certainly
withheld -- "redacted" -- some information. (The image to the right gives
an example of this; click to get a larger version.)
The way the FOIA law works is that you are entitled to a complete
copy of any Government file or document except for portions of
the document that are exempt from disclosure.
These "exemptions" are spelled out in the FOIA law;
the FBI isn't supposed to redact information just because it feels like it.

(That said, several FBI FOIA researchers I spoke to gave low marks
to the FBI for "routinely excising" materials, such as
data already in the public domain or things that might be
embarrassing to the Bureau, "just because they feel like it."
See
Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files by Jon Wiener
for one man's quest to get the FBI to reveal information
withheld from a famous file.)

The withheld parts are generally easy to spot: they're the big white
boxes where something should have been in the file! In some cases
entire pages, or dozens or hundreds of pages, may be withheld.

b2
b6
b7c
...

Whenever the FBI
withholds information, it has to tell you which
exemption -- that is, which part of the FOIA law -- it relied upon
to
withhold the material.
It does so by noting the specific exemption
code, which it typically puts in the
right margin
of the page -- just like to the right of this paragraph.
These look like little letter-number abbreviations like b2 or b7c.
These refer to the specific section of the Freedom of Information
Act that allows the FBI to withhold this information.
For example, b2 refers to
5 USC 552(b)(2).
The EEOC (of all places!) has a nice
summary of FOIA exemptions.

You care about the exemption codes for a couple of reasons. First,
they give you an indication of the sort of information that was redacted.
Second, you can infer from them what your chances are of obtaining
the redacted information if you wanted to appeal the FBI's decision to
withhold it. For example, national security redactions are sometimes
reversed on appeal, but redactions dealing with protecting the identity
of an informant or confidential source are reversed much less frequently.
Third, should you choose to appeal the redaction, the exemption will
strongly influence how you write your appeal request.

Security Classifications

Does your document have an interesting message like that to
the right? "All information contained herein is unclassified"?
That tells you that at one time the page you're looking at
was classified and has been through a security declassification
review.